Strollerderby : videos

The Babble List: The Best Potty-Training Entertainment

editors — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:12:00 GMT

Today on Babble:

The Babble List: The Best Potty-Training Entertainment

by Paul Barman

Get your kids out of diapers with these 15 storybooks, videos and songs.

Read it here.

Fox News Hates Kids In Political Videos Except When They Don't

Brett Singer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Remember the "Bye Bye Bush" video? Remember Fox News' pugnacious pundit Bill O'Reilly's reaction to it?

If not, here it is:

O'Reilly said that it was "wrong" to for little kids to be "used like that." Guest pundit Amanda Carpenter said that the video was "another example of people using children for political purposes… who knows what this is going to do to her future? She doesn't know what she's saying."

So what will Carpenter and O'Reilly have to say about this video? (If the embedded video doesn't work, click here.

Well, nothing. Why not? Because it aired on "Your World With Neil Cavuto." Which is on the Fox News Channel. And the views that these children are being "used" to espouse are on the same side as Bill's. The right-wing side. Which makes "using children" OK.

I personally don't make videos of my kids and put them online for everyone to see. But if someone does, that's their business. That said, my feelings about whether or not kids should appear in videos on TV or online is not based on the nature of the political view being expressed.

What's really galling is the hypocrisy. On my post about Bill's reaction to "Bye Bye Bush", a commenter going by the handle "Huh?" wrote "[Will Ferrell's] Landlord was for laughs, this is openly bashing someone. Jeeze!" Does that mean the Cavuto video is also "for laughs"? I thought Fox News Channel was supposed to be a news channel. (Hence the name.)

Of course that isn't what it means at all. It means that it's fine to "use" kids to spout a political point of view, as long as that point of view is right. And by right, I mean right-wing. Very fair and balanced.

Source: Fox News

UPDATE: Jamie Foxx Apologizes To Miley Cyrus

Kids Don't Pay Taxes: Get Them Out of Tea Parties

Did Sarah Palin Know That Bristol Was Sleeping With Levi?

Morning News: D.C.'s Lovin' Gay Families

12 Year Old Knocks Em Dead On Britain's Got Talent

Playdate: How to Exploit Your Own Kids

JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:25:00 GMT

OK, we're not actually suggesting you exploit your kids. But this guy is!

Meet Mel Kane and his bad eighties era how-to on getting your kids into commercials. Fat kids (yes, he really said that), thin kids, short kids, tall kids! He sounds like a bad Dr. Seuss impression, only he's dead serious.

And what fun it is! He picks apart a kid who looks like she's acting ultra hard to be not interested in what's going on (and probably getting paid very well), and lets you parents of twins out there know you've got a hot commodity or two on your hands.

AdFreak dug this one up, and it's worth taking a look for the laugh at the giant glasses and poufy hair alone. And, you know, if you want to make money off your fat kid.

Have fun in Hollywood.

Also on Babble:

Bad Parent: Stage Mother

Can You Do the Hula Better Than This Kid?

JeanneSager — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:28:00 GMT

We figured you could use a pick-me-up in the middle of the day. And what's better than a baby, a diaper and a cheese-eating grin?

A baby, a diaper, a cheese-eating grin and a hula hoop.

Courtesy goes to the Daily What for finding baby JC and his smooth moves. Seriously - he's better with that thing than I am. I'm a white girl - we can't dance. And apparently we can't hula hoop either.

Sigh.

I'll let JC's hips do the talking . . .

Do you feel better now? No? What kind of parent are you? Sheeeeeeeeesh.

How to Find a Job in This Economy: Let Your Kid on YouTube

JeanneSager — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:47:00 GMT

Things were looking bleak for the former vice president of marketing at the Tampa Bay Lightning - until his son got involved.

Mark Gullett lost his job the Florida hockey team on Thursday. That night, his fourteen-year-old posted a heartrending video on YouTube and job offers started pouring in.

By this weekend, "Mark By Ben" had already been seen by more than thirty six hundred people, and dad Mark has a few promising leads to keep the family alive. I'll let the video speak for itself, which it does in an understated way. There's no speaking - just Ben Gullett, fourteen, holding cue cards for you to read off the story of his father's life. He bought his kid a drum set. He makes 'smores. He has a Stanley Cup ring.

Oh yeah, and thanks to "restructuring," he doesn't have a job. The younger Gullett shares all the reasons his father will make a good employee again some day, but his best quality? "Most importantly, he is my dad," Ben spells out in a series of cards.

The whole thing was Ben's idea - although he did ask his father for help and checked in to make sure it was OK to broadcast his story across the world wide web. The teen says he wanted to do it to show his dad he loved him, and his dad was sufficiently touched. I don't see how anyone watching WOULDN'T be touched. This is one of those stories that reminds you the bad economy may hurt families, but it doesn't break them.

Did this one break your heart?

Amber Alert Now an iPhone App

The Girls Scouts Are Old School – Stop Cyber Cookie Promoting

Big Retailers That Offer Big Sales for Families

YouTube for Kids - Tot LOL

JeanneSager — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:44:00 GMT

I'm not sure how I feel about a safe space for videos for kids.

I mean, yeah, sure, I'd love to know my three-year-old's clicking on a REAL clip of Thomas the Tank Engine, not Thomas Gets Tanked. But what's YouTube without poorly spelled titles and bad impersonations?

Don't worry, TotLOL has those too. But the site that bills itself as "a community-moderated video website designed specifically for children" has a lot of things going for it. Like no Thomas Gets Tanked, natch.

Oh, yeah, and all videos were submitted, screened and rated by parents - straight from YouTube. Using a TotLOL tool, parents browse YouTube and pick videos they think are appropriate for kids. They submit them for inclusion on TotLOL, and the TotLOL community votes on whether or not they're truly appropriate kid fare.

Plus, since the site is powered by YouTube, once you sign up for a free account you can rate videos and make collections of your favorites. The site includes parental controls plus the ability to watch private videos linked from another user's YouTube account, so you can save shots of the kiddies dancing naked for Grandma instead of spinning out a viral video.

Even without an account, you can search and watch, including the ripped from TV content your kids love (the much more appropriate Sir Topham Hatt Sing Along comes to mind).

The creator is a father of two toddlers (three and one and a half) who are both "avid fans of online videos." Do your kids watch online videos? If not, does this change your mind?

Image: TotLOL

Five Super Cute Baby Animal Videos

SunnyChanel — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:40:00 GMT

There are many uses of this video collection of adorable, cute and totally irresistible baby animals from YouTube. Perhaps you:

You just read one of our sad 'humans totally suck' posts and need some cheering up.
The baby/toddler/kid in your life is inconsolable, nothing shushes up a crying kid faster than seeing some hot mammal cuteness
You’re having one of “those” days.
You’ve always wanted a puppy, kitten, tiger cub, baby panda, or baby hippo but your landlord won’t let you have one. Live vicariously through these.
You just have a thing for cuteness, babies or sickeningly sweet videos of random animals.

If any or all of those apply, click thru to check out some total cuteness:

Panda Kindergarden
Cute Kitten Aimlessly Wandering
Totally Cute French Bulldog Puppies
Hot Baby Tiger Cub Action
Baby Hippo - Who Knew They Could Be So Cute

Also check out:

Horrifyingly Cute Animals
Sad Animals Are Also Super Cute

Whip It! Kids Turn to 80s Music For Classroom Makeover

Kate Tuttle — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:58:00 GMT

Today's adorable kid-vid: first-graders in the Woodrow Cummins Elementary School in Conway, Arkansas, entered a contest to win a high-tech upgrade for their classroom, and they chose the best possible soundtrack: Devo's "Whip It," re-mastered as "Click It," now a schoolkid's exhortation to go forward, move ahead, and finish that damn long division lesson already.

While other classrooms used music to sell themselve, including a cover of The Romantics' "What I Like About You," the Devo-loving kids were the most inventive, joyful, and irreverent. And their teacher looks like the kind of teacher we all wish we'd had at least once. Voting ends today!

I Dare You to Find a Cuter Kid Video

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:03:00 GMT

The eight painstaking years I spent studying French just paid off. I don’t know who this girl is or where she came off, but I am pretty sure that she will one day inherit the earth.

Just in case you temporarily forgot that little kids speaking French is the best part of life, I share this video with you of a master storyteller with the most zurbert-able cheeks you’ve ever seen. She spins an impressive tale involving Tigger, poverty, a clawed mammoth, a suicidal hippopotamus, and allergies to magic. Truly, this is not to be missed.

Photo: gledwood2.blogspot.com

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Baby Pictures: The Best Part of this Election

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:50:00 GMT

Prepare to meet your new favorite Web site. In the midst of cruel lies, empty rhetoric, juvenile mud-throwing, and fears of an economic and environmental apocalypse, an ingenious college student has produced political commentary that will leave you giggling, oohing, and ahhing instead of alternately sobbing, shouting at your TV, and consuming ice cream by the gallon.

Yes We Can (Hold Babies), which shows photos and occasionally videos of Obama—you guessed it—holding babies, is by far the best part of this high-stakes election season.

I'll give you a preview, but I highly recommend perusing the whole site yourself. I haven't felt this good in weeks. Apparently, neither has this kid:

And they say youth aren't politically active anymore....

Photos: Yes We Can (Hold Babies)

Walking: Why Can't Babies Do It?

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:35:00 GMT

I'm sure none of you has time to watch a video of an infant getting pushed around in a mini wheelchair by her hipster parents. And yet....

You'll thank me, I swear.

Photo: work-stuff.co.uk

Mister Frickin' Rogers

Brett Singer — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:00:00 GMT

I've made no secret of the fact that I loved "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" when I was growing up. Even so, nothing is sacred, and funny is funny.

Case in point: this clip from Jimmy Kimmel's late night show. I guess he has a regular segment called "Unnecessary Censorship" where he bleeps words that don't need to be bleeped. So check this out, neighbor.

Related posts:

It's a neighborly day here on the 'Derby

Old, Dorky, Great

Pull This Thread As I Walk Away

What She's Afraid to tell You She Really Wants for Mother's Day

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:02:00 GMT

If you have a sense of humor and all little children are safely out of the room, check out this video... It's just like the Roomba, but far more personal:\

Woomba [Hat tip: Babble Reader Logical Mama]

The Best 'Star Wars' Video You Will Ever See

Brett Singer — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:30:00 GMT

High praise indeed, but check out the video below and see if you don't agree. "A touching moment between father and son."

Press play, and wait for it. You will not regret it.

Darth Vader feels blue

image: StarWars.com

Strollerderby Playdate: Boobies and Blood

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:00:00 GMT

I've just returned from a lovely playdate with Heather at Oh My Stinkin Heck. We had coffee. We played with Play-Doh and Webkinz. But, mostly, we griped about the video store.

What's wrong with getting a couple of flicks to watch with the kids on family night? Plenty. Once you manage to pass the gauntlet of candy near the registers, you have to explain all of the DVD cases that feature headless women with enormous breasts or horrified women covered in blood. Now that's entertainment.

It's not that the questions that your kids will ask are hard to answer -- it's just that so many times the older kids take video boxes as illustrations of how the world is and don't ask questions. While the pictures alone won't force the tweens into a Girl's Gone Wild gig, they do add to the climate.

But Heather is a mom after my own heart. Not a prude, just aware of how powerful images can be. I do have just one word of advice, however: Netflix.

Some Things Transcend Time, Culture, and Language

Karen Murphy — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:32:00 GMT

When I was a kid, my older brother and I rode every morning with our mom in the anient turquoise Chevy Nova to the school where she taught and we purportedly learned (yes, I had my mom as a teacher one year, and yes, I was scarred for life by that experience, but we won't talk about that now, but if you utter the words "teacher's pet" I will bite you). The drive involved a stretch of northern California highway where it was our pleasure to pass the time by counting VW bugs and convincing truck drivers to honk their horns for a couple of kids who never lost their sense of wonder that they could be seen through the windows of said Chevy Nova. I think you know what I'm talking about. You haven't forgotten about this, have you? Do your kids do this:

via The Mike Stand

Screw Soccer--Can Your Kids Dance With the Fever?

Kelly Mills — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 23:08:00 GMT

Oh, I'm sure sports are good and character-building and all, but let's face it: When Junior grows up, how many chances is he going to have to wow his fellow accountants at the office holiday party with his knee dribbling skills? Are your little angel's slugging skills going to help her show up fellow executives at the company outing to a local nightclub? Do you even have any funky moves yourself to bring it this holiday season, or are you relegated to photocopying parts of your party or wearing tinsel as a feather boa in order to impress your office mates? Go forth after the jump and learn.

All I can say is: Be schooled. In the mysterious and life-affirming ways of disco. You don't have to know what these folks are saying to get down, get down. Music is the universal language. Then sit your children down in front of the monitor and say, "Study hard, kids. Someday this is gonna go on your college application, and the fact that John Travolta has nothing on you will give you such an edge, Harvard will be begging to give you a full ride."

You are welcome.

Oh, Remember the Singing Grapefruit?

Kelly Mills — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:51:00 GMT

The first time someone who thought I should be exposed to opera played me Bizet's Carmen, I immediately had a serious flashback. I felt warm and comfy and citrus-y. "Daisies and rubber bands?" I thought. Of course I was reliving this wonderful bit from Sesame Street.

I love the kitchen collaboration to make a perfect diva, and my favorite part is that stretch of a high note. I wonder if Maria Callas' face ever flew in the air when she sang?

Dad's Guide to Surviving Labor Due Soon

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 13:39:00 GMT

The same dads who brought you "The Man's Survival Guide to Pregnancy" are at it again. On Father's Day, Dad Labs is releasing its second in a series of Due Dads funny how-to movies. This one is "The Man's Survival Guide to Labor and Delivery."

I just can't wait for the third in the series -- "The Man's Survival Guide to Date Night."

But as much as I wanted to bag on them for saying guys are more video-oriented and don't like to read message boards all that much -- in other words, dads are too dumb to read -- I saw this birthing video they made and thought the better of it. These guys know what they're doing -- and they're good at it. And now I can't wait to see the new video.

Dirty Diaper Diaries Vlog: Homemade Vids Teach About Parenting

Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 15:05:00 GMT

Susanne Carvin has started something brilliant: Dirty Diaper Diaries, a vlog which aims to teach about parenthood "one video at a time." Carvin says the purpose of Dirty Diaper Diaries is "to chronicle the lessons we're learning as first-time parents, and encourage other parents to chime in with their own ideas and suggestions."

The first videos on the vlog include breastfeeding in public and diaper bag essentials. The vlog is just in its "infancy," but I can't wait for more. And, I sure wish Dirty Diaper Diaries was around when I was a flailing first-time parent.